


Destiny

by sklbug15



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Reincarnation, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sklbug15/pseuds/sklbug15
Summary: 30 year old Arthur Smith goes for a jog by the lake after a long day at work. He stops when he notices a sword in the shallows. Upon picking it up he finds he has memories of a previous life. That is he's really a reincarnated Arthur Pendragon King of Camelot. That's also when some friends and family from his previous life come back. This doesn't include Merlin. But much to his knights confusion Arthur knows they're not going to find him.





	Destiny

There was a sharp flash of light struck blue eyes. The young man shut them instinctively and then taking a step to the right cautiously reopened them.  
The sword glinted in the sunlight, water lapping over it where it lay in the shallows of the lake the man had been jogging around after a long day at work. 30 year old Arthur Smith stared at it. What the hell was a sword doing at the lake?   
For a brief moment he considered that it was a fake made out of plastic, but as he looked at it the less he believed that. It probably wouldn't have caught the light as it did if it weren't real. It was a nice looking sword, looking as if it belonged in a museum or on some rich person's wall. Without realizing it he began walking towards it almost as if in a trance. A need had slipped in and he had to pick up this sword. He could feel the weight of it in his hand, fingers twitching. Could almost feel as if he had spent a lifetime swinging a sword.

Mine.   
The thought drifted into his head and he moved faster. This was the second time in his life that such a thought had jumped into his head and the previous time had worked out in his favor. This time would too, he was sure of it. 

His sneakers crunched on top of the rocks as he moved more slowly now, careful not to slip as water was now lapping at the bottom of his shoes. He hesitated as he stared down at the weapon. Something felt off. As if this moment meant more than just a man finding a weapon from the past.  
It felt destined.  
Arthur started to push the thought away, but it persisted, squirming in his mind that it was his destiny to have been here to pick up this sword. He hesitated, still focused on the weapon but not moving.   
At the itch at the back of his neck, Arthur looked up and squinted. Through the light of the setting sun it almost looked as if there were a woman watching him. But she would have to be in the middle of the lake and there was no boat. He could see that there was no boat out there. No possible way for a woman to be standing there on top of the water. 

Take the sword Arthur said a soft voice in his head. He should have questioned a female voice being in his head. He should have questioned someone wanting him to take the sword.   
But he didn't. At the order he reached down and picked it up. As soon as he straightened the visions, the memories came. He was left gasping as he remembered. And he realized he was right. Both times in his life that he had felt something was destined, it was because it was.

And then there were footsteps from behind him. 

"Arthur!" the man turned on his heel to see some familiar faces. And these weren't faces of his friends from the 21st century. No. These were faces from his visions, his memories from the sixth century. Faces he hadn't seen in such a long time, but were familiar and comforting.   
"Guinevere, Dad," he blurted out the names of the two that prompted the most feeling in him. His wife and his father. His stomach flipped at the sight of the woman who had been his wife from his previous life.   
"Gwaine," Gwaine called out from behind said two. Leon smacked him.   
"Ow," Gwaine rubbed the back of his head glaring at Leon, even as Percival and Lancelot sniggered. Uther cast them a look before turning and moving to embrace his son.  
But, Uther had died. Arthur remembered his father had died to save him. His arms moved around the other man instinctually even as that memory lingered in his mind.   
Arthur stood there in his father's arms, trembling slightly, trying to take everything in. He had spent the last 30 years growing up as a young man in modern 21st century Wales and then suddenly he was Arthur Pendragon King of Camelot. His head ached at holding memories of two different lives. His father pulled away beaming at him, and he reached his hand up to rub his head trying to will his headache away.  
"Are you okay?" Gwen asked him quietly. Arthur stared down at his former wife. He swallowed down the lump in his throat at the sight of her.   
"It's just a lot to take in," he answered softly. She stared back at him, making no move to embrace him like his father had, perhaps sensing that things were different now. Arthur twisted the metal on his finger around as he looked upon Guinevere.   
"You were dead sire," Leon said wonderingly. "And now here we are and you're here." The knight looked around him. "Somehow we've been brought back here to you in this time," he said a question in his voice.  
"It's the year 2018," Arthur said. "I, I was reborn and grew up in this time," he said. "But I don't understand why now? Why were you brought back? Why am I just now remembering my previous life?" He glanced at the sword in his hand, dangling innocently.   
"Don't know mate, but here we are," Gwaine clapped him on the shoulder. Uther was staring at the knight a look of mingled confusion and disgust on his face.   
"I want to know why you made him a knight," Uther interjected the disgust winning out on his face. Gwaine grinned at him before being yanked back by Elyan. Gwen was standing quietly her head down, brown eyes focused on the ground.   
"Sire there's no sign of Merlin," Percy said quietly. 

Merlin

Arthur stared at his knights for a long moment, not saying a word. He nodded stiffly.   
"Ah yes, a servant is what we need," Uther said clapping his son on his back. "If you find the boy bring him to us."   
"You're not going to find him," Arthur said stiffly. The knights and Guinevere looked at him.   
"What does that mean?" Gwaine demanded stepping forward.  
Arthur shook his head not answering, but knowing for certain they were not going to find the man called Merlin. 

"What should we do now?" Leon asked Arthur quietly. Everyone looked from the knight to Arthur.   
"I guess you'll need somewhere to stay," Arthur said. "I-" he stopped. "I need to go, talk to m-my wife," he tripped over his words, not looking at Guinevere.   
Elyan stepped forward, next to his sister looking at her concern in his dark eyes. She gazed sadly at Arthur as her eyes fell to the ring on his finger. 

"She's not a former servant girl is she?" Uther asked derisively. Arthur turned and glared at his father.   
"That is enough father," he said loudly. "You will not say one word about Guinevere and you will not say anything about my wife from this time. I do not care about your opinion."

Uther looked stunned by his son's harsh words but remained quiet, perhaps knowing that the knights with them were loyal to his son and not to him and therefore loyal to Guinevere. 

Arthur took the small group and booked them several rooms at a motel. The guy who checked them in didn't blink at their outfits or at the sword Arthur still held. Probably thought they were part of a costume of some sort, Arthur hoped. Guinevere got her own room which he stepped into shutting the door behind him. 

She turned and looked at him. He swallowed. "Gwen," he began. She shook her head.  
"You had no memory of me. And even if you did, up until very recently I was dead. I can't blame her for wanting to be with you, or you for falling in love with another woman," she said, even as tears filled up her eyes.   
Arthur sat on the bed, taking her hands into his own. "It doesn't make things any easier," he said. She nodded her head, even as the tears spilled over.   
"Is she-," Gwen paused.

"You'd like her," Arthur said not explaining how he was so certain of this. He ignored the feeling in the pit of his stomach.   
"She's probably not going to understand or believe any of this," Gwen said waving her hand around.   
"Not right away no," Arthur replied, after all how could she, if he himself hadn't known, how could she have? He stood up and kissed Gwen's forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow," he told her. She smiled through her tears.

 

Arthur paused when he reached his home. He quietly entered the house stopping in his at home office to place the sword in it before going to his bedroom pulling off his clothes as he went, his mind a mess.   
His wife was curled up on their bed sleeping. He paused staring at her. Perhaps she felt the stare of her husband because she stirred and sat up.   
"Hey," he said softly. She smiled sleepily at him and Arthur felt his distress ease a little as a few questions found their answers. 

He slid into the bed and kissed his wife, wrapping himself around her, needing to touch her, to lose himself in her. He knew he should tell her the truth, the whole truth, but he couldn't, not yet. She leaned into his touch, responding in kind. He made love to her, wondering if it could be construed as a lie, since he knew she didn't know who he was or who she was. 

But he knew. He had known the moment he had picked up the sword who he had married in this time. Knew why it was when he saw her five years ago he had that same thought of mine and of destiny as when he saw the sword. Fingers brushed long dark hair out of her face, as he kissed her. Familiar blue eyes caressed him, drank him in. It would only be a matter of time until she realized who she had been, who she always was. 

As they lay sated, Arthur supposed he couldn't be surprised that they had found each other. There always was a connection between them. The female body had just made things easier for them, although he suspected if she had retained her male form, things would have still ended up the same for them. 

Well mostly the same. His hand brushed her stomach, rounded slightly, protection for the child it carried. 

He suspected Merlin had done something using his magic that had caused himself to be reborn, the female body was probably just a result unforeseen, and he wondered if their child would bear that magic. Uther would just love that, he thought to himself grinning.   
The woman rolled over, curling into Arthur.   
"Love you prat," she mumbled.  
"Love you too," Arthur whispered, holding her, holding his Merlin close to him.


End file.
